Life is Greater Than Self

To Many Barriers

I found an article on the National Kidney Foundation website that shared some interesting news when it comes living organ donation. The article stated financial and educational barriers seem to play a major role and make it more difficult for the poor and minorities to give or receive an organ. Advances in immune-suppression have made it safer to receive an organ from someone who isn’t biologically related. Less-invasive surgery techniques also make it easier to donate. But while medical costs for a living donor are typically covered by health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid additional expenses – such as travel, lodging and time off from work – are not.

They are normally emotionally attached.

To see who was most likely to donate, researchers looked at information about adult kidney transplants in the United States that occurred with a living donor. They gathered information on education, race, insurance type, zip code and whether people were related. They found that kidney donations from non-relatives have become more common, rising from seven percent of living donations in 1997 to 26 percent in 2006. The vast majority of unrelated donors have an emotional relationship with the patient, such as friends, in-laws co-workers, church members . In Jennifer’s case her donors were her mom, a friend from church and her pastor. In a few cases, though, organs came from volunteers with no relationships.

Financial restraints have huge impact.

But they found that both unrelated donors and recipients were generally older, likely to live in slightly higher-income neighborhoods than related donors and recipients, and more likely to have a college degree. Patients with higher socioeconomic status are probably more likely to have access to potential donors who have similar means and resources. “It’s not because (people in lower socioeconomic status groups) care about their loved ones any less, but because they can’t pay for the flight, the hotel or take the risk of losing their job. Kidney donors typically have to take six weeks off work after the transplant. In addition, informational barriers may explain why recipients of organs from unrelated donors are more likely to have had more education.

Awareness is vital

That is why it is so important to educate & promote organ donation at an early age . Too many people don’t know the facts and not enough volunteers to assist people willing to be a living donor. Jennifer and I hope one day be able to assist with the financial needs of anyone who is willing to make the sacrifice to becoming a living donor through the non-profit.